"Because if you don’t keep your promise to appear on the show, then you are, what we would call in Britain, a gutless little twerp."

Piers Morgan opened his CNN show on Monday night with a wide shot of an empty chair -- originally reserved for Rep. Todd Akin, now under fire for his controversial "legitimate rape" remarks. Morgan explained to his audience that Akin pulled out of the scheduled interview at the last minute.

"Good evening. You're looking live at the empty chair that Todd Akin was supposed to be sitting in for a live prime time exclusive interview," Morgan began.

The six-term Missouri GOP congressman cancelled the interview "at the last possible moment, leaving us and you looking at an empty chair. It’s a very nice empty chair, but it remains an empty chair," Morgan said.

Morgan then gave the congressman an "open invitation" to come back on his show, throwing in a harsh insult in the process.

"Congressman, you have an open invitation to join me in that chair whenever you feel up to it. Because if you don’t keep your promise to appear on the show, then you are, what we would call in Britain, a gutless little twerp," he said.

He later asked Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) to weigh in on the issue. She said Akin and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan are "like two peas in a pod, have endorsed the same legislation, that would limit women’s rights to access to contraception. That would make even rape and incest not reasons for having an abortion."

Morgan agreed with his guest and argued that Romney's decision to pick Ryan as his running mate was his "worst nightmare."

"It’s gone right back to the social conservative issues he was so desperate to move off on. And the reason he’s so desperate to move off is that on abortion, for example, he has carried out one of the great flip-flops in political history," Morgan added.

And just to make sure everyone was aware of Akin's no-show throughout the show, a small box in the corner of the screen stayed on the shot of the empty chair throughout the segment.

Just to recap what the controversy is all about: During a television interview on Sunday, Akin said that women who are victims of "legitimate rape" are unlikely to become pregnant, citing "doctors" as his source. He has found no support within the Republican party and many have urged him to withdraw from his congressional race against Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.